Mooring Posts

"...people can't, unhapily, invent their moring posts, their lovers and their friends, anymore than they can invent their parents. Life gives these and also takes them away and the great difficulty is to say Yes to life" (Baldwin 5). A moring post is something a ship ties up temporarily to so that it does not drift away. He uses "mooring post" as a metaphor for those one is close to in life. Friends and lovers give one campanionship and keep him from being lonely. They give him an outlet for his troubles. When Baldwin says "they can't invent them" he implies that he would wish them to be another way. Baldwin implies that he wishes he could "invent" them in a way in which he would want them to be. When he says "life takes them away," he implies that these relationships don't last forever. Balwin may be implying that although firends and lovers may not be perfect, one should still accept them for who they are. He shouldn't want to change them. These individuals may only be with him for a short time.

I thought this was similar to something Mrs. Curren said about Vericuel in Age of Iron. Vercuel says, “I don’t see what you need me for.” Mrs. Curren then replies, “You arrived. It’s like having a child. You can’t choose the child, it just arrives” (Coetzee 71). When she says "you can't choose the child," she seems to be agreeing with Baldwin. One cannot choose the mooring post in one's life. In this case the mooring post is a child which she compares to Vericuel. She seems to imply that she is takning him in regardless of his alcoholic and vagabond nature. Maybe, like Baldwin she accepts Vericuel because he will be one of the fleeting companionships she will have in her life; actually, the last mooring post she will have in her life.